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Wordles

LEVEL 4 (Year/ Stage 1)

Recommended use:

May be particularly useful for quick reference by those writing evidence to support records of progress, such as practice supervisors, or for students writing their learning objectives or self-assessment.

Background:

The full sets of words used in all 28 assessment tools for each performance level (or level descriptor) within every academic level were initially converted into ‘Wordles’ (or Word-clouds’). These therefore form a visual representation of the frequency of words used nationally in pre-registration midwifery programmes. Mindful of individual learning styles and preferences, we have included these as an alternative format for the terminology used in the ‘Lexicon Frameworks’.

Fisher, M., Bower, H., Chenery-Morris, S., Galloway, F., Jackson, J., Way, S., 2019. Practice Assessment

Toolkit. National ‘Grading of Practice in Pre-registration Midwifery’ Project. [Online], Available:

https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/national-grading-of-practice-in-pre-registration-midwifery-project

2

Level 4 (SCQF 7): FAIL

Level 4 (SCQF 7): PASS

3

Level 4 (SCQF 7): GOOD

Level 4 (SCQF 7): VERY GOOD

4

Level 4 (SCQF 7): EXCELLENT

Level 4 (SCQF 7): OUTSTANDING

Practice Assessment Toolkit ©2019 Margaret Fisher et al.

Lexicon Frameworks

LEVEL 4 (Year/ Stage 1)

Recommended use:

May be particularly useful for programme teams developing local or regional assessment documents or for practice supervisors recording students’ progress, to facilitate consistency in providing evidence for practice assessors and promote objective determination of levels of performance. Students may also find them helpful in writing learning objectives or self-assessing their progress.

Background:

The words in the original matrix of terminology used in the 28 midwifery practice assessment documents across AEIs in the UK were ranked using ‘Word Count Tool’, with each word collated into its root form and grammatical derivatives. Those occurring most frequently were transferred to a ‘Lexicon Framework’, categorised into their parts of speech:

Nouns (further categorised into ‘knowledge’, ‘skills’, ‘attitudes’ or ‘other’)

Adjectives

Verbs

Adverbs Those words used across all (or all but one) level descriptors were identified in banners above each part of speech, entitled ‘Key words’. The ‘Lexicon Frameworks’ were simplified and examples were provided in response to qualitative findings in the final phase survey.

Fisher, M., Bower, H., Chenery-Morris, S., Galloway, F., Jackson, J., Way, S., 2019. Practice Assessment Toolkit. National ‘Grading of Practice in Pre-registration Midwifery’ Project. [Online], Available: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/national-grading-of-practice-in-pre-registration-midwifery-project

Practice Assessment Toolkit ©2019 Margaret Fisher et al.

LEXICON FRAMEWORKS: LEVELS 4-7

These frameworks are designed to help you give feedback to a student, or for a student to self-assess their performance. A student’s performance will be made up

of different characteristics relating to their knowledge, skills and attitude when providing woman and family centred care. The framework can be used to help

identify a student’s performance in clinical practice and to provide the student with specific feedback on their progress. Choose some of the key words under

nouns and link these to the adjectives, verbs and adverbs to build up a sentence describing the student’s ability in clinical practice using a combination of words

from the framework. You do not need to use each noun but the more you include the better the student understands their performance. You may wish to use

additional nouns to suit your particular area of practice.

The student may be very good in some areas and need support to develop skills in other areas. If any area is not achieved, then a ‘fail’ should be awarded. It is

suggested you work out a ‘best fit’ for an aggregate of grades for each area in order to determine the relevant overall grade, but this is at the discretion of your

programme/ institution. Your programme may ask you to indicate a grade or symbol alongside the chosen descriptor (good, excellent etc) – a blank box has been

provided for this if required. The grade a student receives is the balance of positive attributes and areas to work on. It is unlikely the student will have no areas to

work on. The more feedback students receive on areas to develop, the greater the opportunity they have to maximise their potential.

We hope these frameworks enable students and assessors to move away from the following example that we have seen frequently in students’ Records of

Achievement or Practice Assessment Documents:

Neera has excellent people skills and her personality shines. She fits in well with the team and will make an excellent midwife.

Instead of this rather vague statement, try using the grid over the page to build up a more specific description of the student’s level of performance in knowledge,

skills and attitudes for their relevant level. For example:

Neera consistently provides woman centred compassionate care, she seems to build a rapport with women easily. She is professional in her behaviour

with midwives and support workers but sometimes reticent about communicating with the wider multidisciplinary team. Her documentation skills are developing

Practice Assessment Toolkit ©2019 Margaret Fisher et al.

Example 1: Jemima’s manner with women and their families is usually professional. Her understanding of theory is appropriate. Her practice is good, but to

improve she needs to apply her knowledge more effectively.

Example 2: Sarah provides basic care when asked but needs to be reminded. Her midwifery knowledge is satisfactory but skills, such as abdominal palpation, need

developing.

For a first-year student at level 4, Jemima would receive ‘good’, whereas Sarah would be awarded a ‘pass’.

LEVEL 4: FAIL

PASS GOOD

VERY GOOD EXCELLENT

OUTSTANDING

NOUNS

Knowledge Key words: knowledge, evident(ce), understanding, information, theory(etical)

Skills Key words: practice, able/ability, skill, care, act(ion/ive/ively)

Attitudes Key words: behaviour, manner, compassion, rapport, approach (able), quality

Other Key words: woman, student, family, colleague, NMC, time(s/ly), supervise(ion), standard, require(ment), midwife(ry), workload, support, resources, situation, team, guidance

ADJECTIVES Key words: professional, effective(ly), direct, safe(ly/ty), clinical, high, verbal, individual, own,

limit(ed/ation) inadequate unable poor reticent insufficient inconsistent inappropriate unprofessional fails to unwilling little

limit(ed/ation) basic safe satisfactory

appropriate(ly) good

effective (ly) accurate (ly) clear (ly) very good

professional(s) excellent

outstanding

VERBS Key words: show, document(ation), demonstrate(ion), develop(ment), respond, learn(er), reflect(ive), perform(ance), communicate(ion), lack, need(s), apply(ication), manage(ment), provide, record, work

lack(s)

ADVERBS

usual(ly)

well further

consistent(ly)

always

Practice Assessment Toolkit ©2019 Margaret Fisher et al.

Rubrics

LEVEL 4 (Year/ Stage 1)

Recommended use:

May be particularly useful for those assessing the student’s performance – thus particularly relevant for practice assessors and academic assessors. The template grid is followed by examples, to show how the colour scheme works when performance crosses levels.

Background:

The ‘Lexicon Frameworks’ were used to develop a range of generic statements in the categories of ‘knowledge’, ‘skills’ and ‘attitudes’, relevant to the level descriptors within each academic level. These formed the ‘Rubrics’ which were tested in the final phase of the project for their validity and reliability when participants were presented with hypothetical grading scenarios. Results were overall positive, and participants considered that they were transferable across programmes and professions – with potential to modify the statements to reflect regulatory changes, institutional requirements or programme preferences.

Fisher, M., Bower, H., Chenery-Morris, S., Galloway, F., Jackson, J., Way, S., 2019. Practice Assessment Toolkit. National ‘Grading of Practice in Pre-registration Midwifery’ Project. [Online], Available: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/national-grading-of-practice-in-pre-registration-midwifery-project

Practice Assessment Toolkit ©2019 Margaret Fisher et al.

RUBRIC: L4 Mapping to Lexicon Framework: bold = high frequency, plain = medium frequency, italic = ‘grammar words’

FAIL PASS GOOD VERY GOOD EXCELLENT OUTSTANDING

Knowledge Knowledge is inadequate to undertake safe practice.

Shows evidence of limited underpinning theoretical knowledge.

Accurate knowledge and good understanding of underpinning theory.

Shows evidence of very good theoretical knowledge and understanding.

Excellent knowledge of theory consistently informs practice.

Comprehensive knowledge is consistently applied to practice.

Skills Demonstrates very limited ability in basic clinical skills. Unable to provide evidence of safe care. and/or demonstrates inappropriate communication with the woman/ family.

Able to demonstrate basic clinical skills and safe practice. Demonstrates compassionate care and appropriate communication skills with the woman/ family.

Demonstrates development of good clinical skills and safe practice. Demonstrates sensitive care for the woman and an approachable manner to the family and team.

Demonstrates safe and confident skills in clinical practice. Demonstrates compassionate woman-centred care and works well within the team.

Consistently demonstrates excellent ability in clinical skills. Able to demonstrate advocacy for the woman, always interacting professionally with the family and colleagues.

Consistently demonstrates outstanding clinical skills and excellent care. Able to adapt to complex situations, collaborating effectively with the woman and team.

Attitudes Student demonstrates inadequate awareness of own professional behaviour. Student fails to respond to feedback.

Student demonstrates adequate understanding of professional behaviour. Student acts on feedback.

Student demonstrates good understanding of appropriate professional behaviour. Student is able to assess own performance and reflect on feedback.

Student demonstrates very appropriate professional behaviour and self-awareness. Student reflects on and evaluates own performance well.

Student demonstrates excellent insight into personal professional behaviour. Student demonstrates excellent personal motivation to learn and perform to a high standard.

Student demonstrates an exceptional ability to analyse and modify own professional practice and behaviours, consistently self-evaluating performance.

UNDER DIRECT SUPERVISION:

Does not achieve all the NMC standards/ requirements

Achieves all the NMC standards/ requirements

Achieves all the NMC standards/ requirements well

Very good achievement of all the NMC standards/ requirements

Excellent achievement of all the NMC standards/ requirements

Outstanding achievement of all the NMC standards/ requirements

Practice Assessment Toolkit ©2019 Margaret Fisher et al.

EXAMPLE OF RUBRIC: L4 Mapping to Lexicon Framework: bold = high frequency, plain = medium frequency, italic = ‘grammar words’

FAIL PASS GOOD VERY GOOD EXCELLENT OUTSTANDING

Knowledge Knowledge is inadequate to undertake safe practice.

Shows evidence of limited underpinning theoretical knowledge.

Accurate knowledge and good understanding of underpinning theory.

Shows evidence of very good theoretical knowledge and understanding.

Excellent knowledge of theory consistently informs practice.

Comprehensive knowledge is consistently applied to practice.

Skills Demonstrates very limited ability in basic clinical skills. Unable to provide evidence of safe care. and/or demonstrates inappropriate communication with the woman/ family.

Able to demonstrate basic clinical skills and safe practice. Demonstrates compassionate care and appropriate communication skills with the woman/ family.

Demonstrates development of good clinical skills and safe practice. Demonstrates sensitive care for the woman and an approachable manner to the family and team.

Demonstrates safe and confident skills in clinical practice. Demonstrates compassionate woman-centred care and works well within the team.

Consistently demonstrates excellent ability in clinical skills. Able to demonstrate advocacy for the woman, always interacting professionally with the family and colleagues.

Consistently demonstrates outstanding clinical skills and excellent care. Able to adapt to complex situations, collaborating effectively with the woman and team.

Attitudes Student demonstrates inadequate awareness of own professional behaviour. Student fails to respond to feedback.

Student demonstrates adequate understanding of professional behaviour. Student acts on feedback.

Student demonstrates good understanding of appropriate professional behaviour. Student is able to assess own performance and reflect on feedback.

Student demonstrates very appropriate professional behaviour and self-awareness. Student reflects on and evaluates own performance well.

Student demonstrates excellent insight into personal professional behaviour. Student demonstrates excellent personal motivation to learn and perform to a high standard.

Student demonstrates an exceptional ability to analyse and modify own professional practice and behaviours, consistently self-evaluating performance.

UNDER DIRECT SUPERVISION:

Does not achieve all the NMC standards/ requirements

Achieves all the NMC standards/ requirements

Achieves all the NMC standards/ requirements well

Very good achievement of all the NMC standards/ requirements

Excellent achievement of all the NMC standards/ requirements

Outstanding achievement of all the NMC standards/ requirements

Practice Assessment Toolkit ©2019 Margaret Fisher et al.

EXAMPLES (please refer to above grid)

Example 1: Community

Jayne generally demonstrates a good knowledge base although she shows limited knowledge of the antenatal screening programme. She demonstrates a sensitive

approach towards women and families. She is able to assess her own work and knows where she needs to improve.

Overall grade: Good

Example 2: Postnatal ward

Rosheen has shown insight into her professional behaviour and always interacts professionally with colleagues and women. Her motivation to learn is excellent

and her knowledge base is comprehensive for this stage of her programme.

Overall grade: Excellent